Granddaughter Bitsy's Visit

Our Granddaughter, Bitsy, along with her mother, Laura, and Bitsy's friend, Emily, drove up from Omaha, Nebraska, to spend the New Year holiday with us. They spent two days at our lake home and then we went to our Saint Cloud home Friday morning. Bitsy wanted her Grandpa and Emily to see the movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still" with her. On Saturday plans to travel to Minneapolis were canceled due to an approaching snow storm.


Bitsy watches Grandpa perform some "magic" with his laptop computer. Then Bitsy got her computer and the two were able to connect Bitsy's computer to the Internet via the newly installed wireless router.


Laura and Bitsy along with their two dogs watch the DVD movie Signs and then the movie The Village.


At the breakfast table the next morning, Emily watches Bitsy's dog, Hemingway, beg for some food.


Emily, Laura, Bitsy, and I pose for a picture just before we leave for the Saint Cloud home.


Here we all are in the kitchen of our Saint Cloud home playing a German card game of Elferraus.


Here is Emily, Bitsy, and Laura just before leaving on their road trip back to Omaha, Nebraska.

Holiday Season

Christmas time was filled with family, friends, and parties. This is my favorite time of the year.


Here I am at one of the Christmas parties standing in the entryway. Of course, Santa welcomes me.


In this picture I am standing by an upside-down Christmas tree.


This is such beautiful decorations. Yet, I look at the lighted candles and the surrounding evergreen branches and wonder how safe it is!


Another party, but one that my friend Dorie and I catered for Dorie's son-in-law.


Christmas morning arrives and we open our presents. Dick opens one addressed to "Dick & Liz" and gets this towel. Just what he's always wanted.


Later on Christmas day, my son Rick gives me a ride on his snowmobile around our lake.


Two of my grandchildren, Raisa and Brenden, were with us for Christmas.

Christmas Decorations at the Lake

Here are a few decorations that we've put up at the lake home.

Beginning of the Christmas Season

The 2008 Christmas season is here and I'm in the process of decorating the house.


The Christmas tree is up and decorated. Also, the windows have been outlined with lights.


Here is my center piece that I've placed on the dinning room table.


This is the decoration on the "coffee table" in the living room.


At the top of the staircase are the two gingerbread dolls that welcome visitors to our house.


Here are the decorations at the front of the house.


Part of the holidays for us is attending shows. Dick and I went, along with Don & Judy, to the Bobby Vee Christmas concert. Here is Bobby and I posing for a picture. Because we are in our mid-sixties, our eyes are not as good as they used to be. That is probably why this picture is a bit fuzzy.

Thanksgiving Day

We had a great Thanksgiving Day. Rick & Kathy and their children from River Falls, WS, came. Then Sue & Jon from Minneapolis were there. Also, Barb and Jack from St. Cloud came.


Would not be Thanksgiving without turkeys! Of course, these are wild turkeys walking across the lawn at our lake home. We did not shoot one of them.


The turkeys saw me taking their picture and so scampered across the road to get away.


Here we are carving the turkey.


Kathy helped dish up the food.


Rick and Jack play some cribbage while waiting for the food.


Dick joins them in a game of three-handed cribbage.


Here Dick is counting the points in his crib.


Sue, Raisa, and Brenden enjoy the comradery by watching Jon play an old Nintendo video game the belongs to Ben.


Rick joins the gang and some enjoy Special-K bars.

Removing a Boat from the Water

Apostle Islands, Wisconsin Trip

Dick and I spent a couple of days in Northern Wisconsin this week with the Goodrums. We spent our time at the Apostle Islands in the town of Bayfield, WI.


We rented a condo on the south shore of Lake Superior.


Being the time was in late October, most of the boats had been taken out of the water in preparation for the coming winter. Dick is taking pictures of the area.


Here is a view of the town of Bayfield. The color of the foliage was wonderful. Away from the lake, the leaves had all fallen from the trees.


There are several apple orchards around Bayfield. Dorie and I pose for a picture at the entrance of one of the orchards.

Faculty Wives Early Halloween Party

I've been a member of faculty wives for many years now. One of our activities is gourmet groups. The following pictures show a recent Halloween Party of our group.


Here is a picture of me standing by one of the decorations.


This is Lorna, the host for our Halloween Party.

Fall Colors

This past week the foliage was so pretty. So I took a few pictures of some of the trees and shrubs. Here is the fire bush at the end of my driveway.














I went to the hospital to visit a friend. As I was parking my car I noticed how nice the maple trees looked. Here is the picture of it.

An Exciting Week

A group called the Piano Trio (piano, violin, cello) was touring Minnesota and so Don & Judy made arrangements to have them play a concert in their home. About 60 people were there. Here is Don & Judy with the cellist, the violinist sporting a beard, and the pianist sitting.












We also meet from time-to-time with a group of friends. We have dinner at one of the homes and them play a board game or watch a movie. Here are three of my friends Pat, Mary, and Dorie that we meet with along with the husbands.













Here are some of us sitting around the table after playing a couple rounds of a board game. Dick of course, along with Dorie and I, won both games.














This is a picture of Dick and Jim that I took the previous week, but I wanted to include it. This was when we were up at their summer home near the Canadian border. By the way, Jim won every game of cribbage!